264 Notices of Memoirs — Count de Saporta — 



mandibles with teeth found in the American Chalk showing a bird 

 less Eeptilian than Archesopteryx. 



The LabyrintJiodonts of the Coal-measures were less highly organ- 

 ized than those of the Trias, the ossification of the vertebrae being 

 imperfect, and the disposition of the teeth resembling that of fishes. 



The Fern, Eopteris Morierei, Saporta, discovered by Prof. Moriere 

 of Caen, is the oldest terrestrial plant known, being derived from 

 the Ardoises of Angers. In the Cincinnati group of America, Les- 

 quereux has recorded several vascular Cryptogams and Gymnosperms, 

 a Sigillaria (Protostigma sigillarioides, Lesq.), Calamites (Annularia 

 Rcemingeri, Lesq., and Sphenophyllum primcevum, Lesq.). 



Insects are present in the Devonian, and no less than 30 species 

 occur in the Carboniferous according to Heer. A Myriapod, 

 Anihraceps, recently discovered in Illinois, has similar breathing 

 apparatus to that of the order at the present day. 



The Scorpion of Bohemia differs but little from the venomous 

 species of the tropics. 



From the Infra-Lias of one locality (Argovie) M. Heer records 

 no less than 143 species of insects. Beetles and leaf-eating forms 

 abound ; but Butterflies, Bees, Ants, and Flies are still absent. 



In the second chapter the author gives a careful analysis of the 

 theory of Evolution, especially as to the facts adduced by Mr. Darwin. 



In Chap. III., on ancient climate, it is pointed out that : — 



At the foot of the Himalaya, tropical vegetation is maintained up 

 to 1000 metres ; at 2000 Palms and Bananas have disappeared, and 

 are replaced by Oaks and Pines ; at 3000 snow falls in winter ; at 

 3500 occurs a zone of Cedars ; at 5000 corn is still cultivated, at an 

 elevation about that of the top of Mont Blanc; at 5500 all life 

 disappears. 



Since the " Golden Age " of the poets there has always been present 

 a legend of successive changes undergone by the world. 



In the Quaternary age M. de Saporta considers the climate was 

 much more humid, and the rivers consequently larger, both in 

 Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa. 



He refers to the extension of the glaciers of the Alps not only to 

 the Jura, but from the observations of M. A. Falsan almost to Lyons. 

 He comments on the colossal proportions of the glaciers of Argeles in 

 the Pyrenees worked out by MM. Martins et Collumb, and the 

 former extension of the glaciers of Scandinavia and Spitzbergen, 

 during which the shells of the Arctic Ocean lived in the British Seas, 

 and the plants and mammals of the Far North occupied the plains of 

 Europe. He points out that the species found in the low grounds — 

 to which the excessive size of the glaciers might be supposed to 

 drive both animals and plants — are associated with species indicating 

 warm conditions ; thus the mammals of the alluvia of the Seine and 

 Somme, worked out by M. E. Lartet and by M. A. Gaudry, are associ- 

 ated with Elephas antiquus near to that of India, and shells of Cyrena 

 fluminalis, while the Mosses tell the same story as regards the plants ; 

 Vines and Laurels occurring in great abundance, not only in the 

 middle of France, but at Moret, near Paris, and he considers that 



